Simmons College

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From the College

Decades before women gained the right to vote, Boston businessman John Simmons had a revolutionary idea: women should be able to earn independent livelihoods and lead meaningful lives. Simmons College was the result. Founded in 1899, Simmons was the first college in the nation to offer women a liberal arts education integrated with professional preparation. Today, Simmons provides a strong liberal arts education for undergraduate women that is integrated with professional career preparation, interdisciplinary study, and global perspectives. Simmons offers the many benefits of a small university: an innovative undergraduate women’s college, renowned coeducational graduate programs and the world’s first MBA program designed for women. Exceptional internship and research opportunities provide hands-on experience and career exposure. It is the Simmons faculty that makes the educational experience unique by challenging students to reach their full potential while providing individual support and mentoring. Furthermore, the Simmons community encourages dialogue, respect and collaboration–making the Simmons experience as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking.

Simmons’s interdisciplinary approach offers great advantages: a broader education and view of the world; personalized plans of study; and a chance to develop a range of professional skills and strengths needed for graduate school and an increasingly competitive job market. This is reflected by the large percentage of students employed or attending graduate school shortly after graduation. Every student explores a variety of subjects while gaining an in-depth theoretical and practical understanding of her major. First-year core courses emphasize critical thinking and writing skills, while integrating two or more subjects–ranging from bioethics and Buddhist studies to computational linguistics and visual communication.

Students fulfill their independent learning requirement through internships, fieldwork, and research projects. In doing so, they develop skills, confidence, impressive resumes, and a network of professional contacts. Some students co-publish research with faculty in nationally recognized academic journals as undergraduate students. Many students spend one or more semesters interning for businesses and organizations, ranging from Boston Public Schools and The Boston Globe to the Museum of Fine Arts, Smash Advertising, and the World Affairs Council. Simmons’s Longwood Medical Area partnerships provide outstanding clinical opportunities at Boston’s world-renowned hospitals. On campus, students conduct research using state-of-the-art equipment in areas such as materials science, gene splicing, and computer modeling. In addition, professors frequently invite undergraduates to collaborate on professional research projects, articles, and presentations.

Acquiring a global outlook is integral at Simmons–including an understanding of languages, cultures, and international politics. Programs such as Africana studies, East Asian studies, international relations, and modern languages offer a direct route to cross-cultural immersion. Simmons encourages students to spend an entire semester or year abroad. Short-term international courses provide unique opportunities to study topics such as journalism in South Africa, music in Austria, or history and civilization in Japan. Students also take part in local and international service-learning projects, ranging from education initiatives in Boston to health care in Nicaragua.

Approximately 55 percent of Simmons undergraduates live in college housing two blocks from the main campus. The “quintessential New England” residence campus features nine brick residence halls and a private, landscaped quad, as well as Bartol Dining Hall, the state-of-the-art Holmes Sports Center, a student-run cafe, and the campus health center.

Students say that Simmons’s location offers the best of both words–an intimate college experience in the heart of a vibrant city. Simmons’s 2,060 undergraduates love the fact that they can easily access the city’s rich social and cultural resources but also come home to a safe, friendly campus.

Considered by many to be the best college town in the nation, Boston has more than fifty colleges and universities and approximately 300,000 students. Boston is big league in every sense but size–just like Simmons. The historic, tree-lined Simmons campus is located in Boston’s eclectic Fenway neighborhood, which is alive with music and fine arts, medical care and research, action and activism, and the resounding cheers of baseball fans at legendary Fenway Park. From campus, it’s a safe, easy stroll to other colleges and universities as well as shops, cafes, clubs, museums, movie theaters, parks, and public transportation. Students hop aboard the “T” (Boston’s public transportation system) and head to destinations such as Downtown Crossing, the Italian North End, Chinatown, Harvard Square, and Greater Boston’s many other diverse neighborhoods.

Simmons offers more than 40 majors and programs. Popular majors include psychology, nursing, biology, political science, and communications. Faculty advisors help each student create a plan that fulfills requirements and satisfies her personal and professional goals. A number of integrated degrees and accelerated programs allow students to go directly from an undergraduate program to earning a graduate degree in areas such as education, health care, liberal arts, physical therapy, and science information technology. Simmons also offers individually designed preprofessional programs for dentistry, law, medicine, and veterinary medicine. Simmons students typically declare a major by the end of their sophomore year, and nearly a third choose to double major.

Simmons offers a strong liberal arts education integrated with professional preparation, interdisciplinary study, and global perspectives. A minimum of 128 semester hours is required for graduation. Students must demonstrate competence in math and foreign language, complete a core curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences (40 semester hours), complete the courses required for the selected major(s) (20 to 40 semester hours for each major), fulfill an independent learning requirement (8 to 16 semester hours), and round out their program with appropriate electives. Other special academic opportunities include Simmons’ outstanding honors, service-learning, and study-abroad programs. The Dorothea Lynde Dix Scholars option is available for women who are 24 years or older, or who hold a previous bachelor’s degree.

Simmons is a member of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium, which allows students to cross-register with neighboring colleges, including Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Art, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Wheelock College. A domestic exchange program allows juniors to spend a semester at Belmont University, Mills College, Spelman College, or Fisk University. Students interested in international study may elect to spend one semester or one year at an approved university exchange or participate in intensive study-abroad programs during the spring semester. Many students take advantage of the over 20 short term study abroad programs which bring students to another location for three weeks, typically following the spring semester.

Qualified students, usually juniors, also may apply for the Washington Semester at American University in Washington, D.C. Other opportunities include Success Connection, a mentoring program that matches select seniors with highly successful Simmons alumnae, and the Barbara Lee Internship Fellows program, which places students in Massachusetts legislators’ offices and policy advocacy groups for one semester.

The beautiful Simmons campus offers an attractive, practical mix of historic and modern architecture, including state-of-the-art facilities and conveniences. The Main College Building houses a dining area and coffee bar, lecture halls and classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, the bookstore, the Student Activities Center, art studios, music practice rooms, and the Trustman Art Gallery.

Park Science Center offers technologically advanced learning environments, including faculty and student research facilities, fully equipped science laboratories, environmental rooms, observation rooms for psychological testing, and food science kitchens.

One Palace Road, the home of Simmons’s School of Social Work and Graduate School of Library and Information Science, features electronic classrooms and also houses the centers for academic support, counseling, career education and resources, media, and technology. The newly renovated Beatley Library offers a number of high-tech services, including a wireless network, laptop loans, sophisticated online library service, technology-equipped group study rooms, and more. In January 2009, Simmons will open a state-of-the-art LEED-certified ‘green’ building to house the School of Management.

Undergraduate tuition and fees for the 2008–09 academic year were $14,560 per semester; room and board charges were $5750 per semester. Total costs, not including books, supplies, and personal expenses, were $41,490.

More than 90 percent of Simmons students receive some form of financial aid. Scholarships, grants, loans, and federal work-study are determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Simmons also awards academic merit scholarships, ranging from $2000 to $15,000 awards, renewable for four years.

Simmons offers a learning experience that is highly collaborative and much more personal than that of large universities. The Simmons faculty includes noted researchers, authors, and experts in their respective fields – yet professors passionately uphold their primary obligation to teach. Students say the small classes, intellectual focus, and welcoming environment contribute to their confidence and success. Simmons has 206 full-time and 340 part-time faculty members; 72 percent are women. A 13:1 student-teacher ratio ensures that every student receives individual attention, and reinforces the strong tie between students and professors.

The Student Government Association (SGA) coordinates the policies and activities of various student organizations, allocates the student activities funds, and promotes the interests of the student body by working closely with the Simmons faculty and administration. In addition, every academic department has a student liaison that participates in department evaluations and helps promote educational and social activities for students, faculty members, and staff members. Simmons has more than 50 student organizations, clubs and academic liaisons, including 10 NCAA Division III varsity teams, honor societies, cultural organizations, volunteer programs, and a literary magazine.

There isn’t one “type” of Simmons student, but there are common qualities. Simmons women are intellectually motivated and open-minded. They are serious about their personal and professional goals, and they are determined to make a difference in the world. With this in mind, the Simmons admission team reviews applications to see not only what applicants have accomplished, but also who they are and what kind of person they hope to become.

The admission team also evaluates high school performance, SAT or ACT scores, recommendations, and the application essay. If English is not the applicant’s first language, the TOEFL, IELTS, or a comparable exam score is required. Additional English language proficiency exams are accepted on a case by case basis.

Simmons welcomes applications from prospective freshmen, transfer students, international students, and students who are beyond the traditional college age.

Although not required, an interview is highly recommended. This gives admission officers better perspective about an applicant’s abilities, interests, and personality–and at the same time, allows the applicant to evaluate Simmons and decide if it’s the right place for her.

Students may apply online at www.Simmons.edu, use the Common Application, or submit a print application, along with the $55 fee and all supporting credentials. Simmons waives the application fee for students who apply online. The Early Action deadline is December 1 and is a nonbinding deadline. The deadline for freshman applicants is February 1. Transfer students are evaluated on a continual basis; the preferred filing date for applications is April 1. Students applying for the semester beginning in January should apply by December 1.

Simmons encourages prospective students and their families to attend an admission event or request an individual visit. They are welcome to tour the campus, sit in on a class, talk to current students, and interview a professor, department chair, or program director.

For further information, interested students should contact: